5 Tips for Pitching to Journalists

You’ve identified your client’s key messages and developed the perfect story to share with the world. Now you need to get the press interested and excited about the brand. Pitching to journalists is an everyday task for PRs. The aim of the pitch is to get relevant coverage and crafting your pitch is vital to ensuring it is not ignored.

Here are our 5 tips for pitching to journalists

Be informative

It goes without saying that a pitch must be informative yet it is surprising how easy it can be to get carried away talking about your client’s brand without actually sharing concrete information. Journalists appreciate a well-constructed and informative pitch. Keep this in mind even when your client is demanding a more exuberant writing style.

Customise your pitch

Avoiding using the “cut-and-paste” method when pitching to journalists especially if you pitch via e-mail. Choose an angle and use specific examples to appeal to them. A journalist is more likely to read your pitch if they feel that its message has been written specifically for them.

Know your journo

Journalists usually focus on specific sectors. Look at their previous articles to ascertain what subject matter they focus on as well as their viewpoint. If a journalist writes about healthy eating alternatives it would be a mistake to send them a pitch about your client’s new highly carbonated fizzy drink. This example showcases a common mistake, which is to assume that all journalists will be interested in something related to their sector – PRs have to dig deep to find out where the journalist positions himself/herself within his/her sector.

Make contact easy

Ensure that all relevant contact details are included in your pitch to encourage follow-ups. A journalist will abandon a story if they are unable to get more information directly from the PR, and in certain cases, they will try to reach the client directly, which doesn’t reflect well on you.

Get visual

Make your pitch easy to read and attractive by incorporating relevant visuals. This is very important, whether you are pitching a person or a product. The memory of your pitch will last longer if there is a visual cue in the reader’s mind.

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